Football at IIMA ( Contributed by Mr.Shubhodip Banerjee )

It was my third day in Ahmedabad and just like the other PGPX students, I was still struggling with the Ahmedabad heat and the pretty intense dry weather. Classes were yet to start but people were already discussing placements, committees and ‘The Case Study Method’.

‘Man! This will be tough, yeh dhoop mein toh meri waat lag rahi hai’ is what one of the dorm 26 folks mentioned as we were returning from the Dining Hall after lunch. ‘I am not getting any personal time yaar, wherever I see, people are talking about FRA and FAM, and I don’t even know their full forms’.

Coming from an IT background, it is imperative that I open my laptop just after reaching home to check my mails: ‘Pata nahi kuch na kuch toh Prof log bheja hoga. Abhi tak saala wifi bhi thik se chal nahi raha hai’

And there was a one-liner mail from some Satish Chandra: ‘Everyone is invited for a soccer session at Old campus football field near Louis Kahn Plaza at 6PM’.

Yeh Satish Chandra kaun hai? Over the last 2 days, I have met so many new faces and have heard so many new names that the mapping between faces and names have become a nightmare. ‘You are Pronomita, right? See, I always knew that I am good in memorizing names. Coming for lunch?’ – A clear sign of confidence on the voice of Tarun, as he extended his hand.

‘No, I am not Pronomita. And I think I have already introduced myself to you at least three times by now. And you have already forgotten?’

‘Seriously? You must be kidding me! I was sure that you are Pronomita. If you are not Pronomita, then who is Pronomita yaar?’ – Tarun was struggling within himself to somehow come up with a name.

‘I am Soumika’ – came the curt reply, least interested in the lunch or the recent association.

And thus, when Satish’s mail came, I wondered who this guy is and whether it is really worth going to the football field. ‘Arey abhi kya soccer khelne ka … bahar itna dhoop hai, aur mera sports shoes bhi abhi tak aaya nahi … chalo lets first have a sleep.’ And then, as I was still meditating lazily, the phone rang.

‘Coming for football, right?’ – blurted out the voice on the other side, without any introduction.

‘Mane, I mean, yea was thinking, but then’ … I was blabbering.

‘Arey kya yaar? Bangali ho ke football ke bare mere itne sochte hai … Mohun Bagan, ilish maach and Gold Flake Kings … yeh teeno hi toh abhi bacha hai. Expecting to see you at 6 on the ground’ – pretty much a command came out towards the end.

‘Ok sure’ was my meek reply, still scratching my head.

But then, when I reached the football ground, wearing my chappals, with some apprehensions still in my mind, I was surprised and actually overjoyed to see some 10 to 12 people on the green (well it was not exactly lush green) football ground, some hitting a silvery football, some just loitering around and some simply trying to create an impression (Aah, the sports committee needs to be formed asap)

And then the two teams were formed. The ball was placed at the center by Satish … well you can’t miss or forget him once you actually see him. And then the show began!! Well, it was not exactly a show, for obvious reasons.

Mayukh was down on the ground after playing for a little less than 5 minutes, holding his ankle ‘Out of practice yaar’, Aman was panting trying to hold on to his breath ‘ Kitne saal baad khel raha hnu yaar’, Soumen tightly clasping his upper thighs ‘I think I got a muscle pull’.

But the show continued! For close to forty minutes. The warriors got injured and sat out cheering their teams, the fighters ran up and down the flanks complaining ‘Bohot ho gaya yaar, last move karte hai’ and the other students who were not exactly interested in participating, started flocking the gallery appreciating the efforts of their class mates.

And finally when the game got over, the sense of accomplishment filled the air. ‘We can still play football’. The excitement was apparent – ‘We must continue playing every day’, ‘Arey padhai toh hoga, par football bhi chahiye’, ‘maybe we should reserve the ground for ourselves for the rest of the year’, the enthusiasm overwhelming.

And the enthusiasm still continued, even after one week. New players were added. Some old warriors took the back seat. A Dorm 26 vs Dorm 27 match was held. The MSH guys somehow squeezed themselves into one of the teams, building on their ‘convincing the others’ capabilities. Games were won and games were lost, but the spirits remained intact!

Well, coming down from the spirits to the mortal world, Soumen is still nursing his injury, I am still waiting for my sports shoes to arrive and Jaideep is still flaunting his fluorescent colored jerseys in the blazing hot Ahmedabad summer.

Day 2, 3 and 4: Induction to the PGPX program

After a wonderful inauguration event and dinner with some thoughtful discussions with professors and chair of the program on Sunday the whole batch went through a 3 day induction process. Induction process covered various aspects of the program from academics to infrastructure, from accessing the amazing Vikram Sarabhai library to utilizing all the facilities offered to students.

Induction introduced us to the various departments at IIM-A. We came to know about what marketing would offer vs. are they courses PGPX can avail from the PGP schedule and vice versa. We covered departments such as finance, marketing, operations, strategic human resource management, etc. 

IIMA PGPX admins and committee designed the induction to introduce us to the case based pedagogy methodology by asking to analyze the MH 370 ( Malaysian Airline ) disappearance mystery. We were suppose to discuss the whole mystery with our syndicate mates ( a group of 5 or 6 people who work together on cases and problems through out the TERM I and TERM II ). Believe me it was whole new experience compared to working in team at work ( my previous company Goldman Sachs, NY ) and understanding how different people bring different skills to the table and also how they behave, react, engage, communicate and express very differently from each other.

We also got an assignment to come up with a unique name of our syndicate and as well a logo and theme song/poem/words. It was the most entertaining project to work as a group and creatively think about the syndicates identification at the same defining a goal, a motivation and the rigor that we would have to follow in the coming 363 days.

Induction gave a glimpse of what lie ahead at times scaring us, making us nervous and at times enthusing the energy and motivation to achieve something. Emphasis was put to continuously introspect and look at the mirror to make sure you are going in the right direction.


More to come on how our courses on firms and markets, marketing and analysis of data started off. An interesting story coming up on the unique method of teaching by our marketing professor. :)

Good Night. 

Day 1: Inauguration @ IMDC Auditorium

Finally I joined the dream school IIM-A and one of the most sought after program PGPX. Today was the first official day of the program called Inauguration leading to interaction with professors, admins, chair, director and the founder. We were welcomed by decoration of flowers and greeted by the PGPX admin officials. Every one wearing the white IIMA logo t-shirt looked like a group of 85 white lions ( urf students ) heading to conquer the world ( urf become leaders of the future ). 

PGPX admin head started with a welcome message and then introduced the 3 speakers for the day, one of them the founding member of the PGPX program, chair of the program and the director. They started highlighting the critical angle of the program that the year is going to be tough and the focus should be on learning and introspection rather than the pragmatic goal of placements. A very important point was to have a constant feedback loop within oneself and listen to inner voice to make sure you know where you want to be at the end of the one year. Diversity was highlighted by listing the presence of 13 female students among the 85, highest so far along with average 10 year experience of the batch.

Comparison was done between the 2 year PGP program and the expectations from our 1 year MBA for executives. Spouses of some of the members were present too proudly listening to the speakers and feeling the pride of sitting inside the IIM-A campus. Some people were fiddling with their hairs, a few changing positions and a few staring into the podium trying to concentrate on the words oozing out from the speakers mouth. Few good questions were asked such as what was the mission statement of the program and how far have we progressed to achieve one, what changes were done since the program was found, is the program just focused on fundamental learning or also leadership styles.

I am sure there are lot of questions and lot of curiosity in the mind of the 85's which will be cleared as we progress through the rest of the 364 DAYS in the program.

Good Night for now, hope to write and see you tomorrow.